Consumers make use of color-modifying agents to obtain fashionable coloring of hair or to conceal grayed or even white hair with fashionable or natural color shades. Apart from the desired color modification, these agents should cause the least possible damage to the hair, indeed they should preferably even have additional conditioning properties and make the hair visually attractive. Depending on the requirements placed on the color modification, many coloring systems may provide coloring cosmetics, in particular for the skin or keratin-containing fibers such as for example human hair.
“Oxidation coloring agents”, may refer to agents used for permanent, high intensity dyed colors with appropriate fastness characteristics. Such coloring agents may contain oxidation dye precursors which, under the influence of oxidizing agents or atmospheric oxygen, react with one another to form the actual dyes. Oxidation coloring agents may be distinguished by excellent, long-lasting coloring results. Coloring agents or tints which contain “substantive” dyes as the coloring component may be used for temporary coloring. These “substantive” dye molecules may key directly to the substrate and may not need an oxidative process to develop the color. Finally, coloring systems based on precursors of nature-analogous dyes are used, in which the precursor compounds, predominantly under the influence of atmospheric oxygen, react with one another and, in so doing, form colored macromolecules similar in structure to natural melanin dyes. However, after color modification, in particular after an oxidative color modification, the hair is frequently left in a state which is rather unattractive in tactile and visual terms.
Accordingly, the present specification reduces the above-stated disadvantages of conventional commercial hair coloring agents. The color modifying agents of the present specification as far as possible reduce fiber structure damage, impart elevated resilience and silkiness, and in particular impart improved combability to the hair. This, however, is not achieved at the expense of reduced color modification performance of the agents. In particular, the coloring agents achieve glossy, bright, long-lasting and uniform coloring results.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the agents described in the present specification will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.